By IANS,
Shimla : The Himachal Pradesh High Court Wednesday advanced the date of final hearing in a case filed by Reliance Energy challenging the state government’s allotment of a multi-million dollar hydropower project to Dutch firm Brakel Corp.
Reliance Infrastructure, which was one of the bidders for the 960 MW Thopan-Powari-Jangi hydropower project in Kinnaur district, has challenged the state government’s Nov 25, 2008, decision to allot the project to Brakel.
A division bench of Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice V.K. Ahuja advanced the date of hearing from May 18 to May 7, but directed Brakel not to create any “third-party obligations” for the project till the next hearing.
Reliance Infrastructure had earlier filed the petition in the name of Reliance Energy.
Brakel also filed a reply to the Reliance petition, informing the court that the government’s decision was right and that it had been taken after considering its financial and technical capabilities.
During a Jan 8 hearing, Reliance Infrastructure’s plea for staying the signing of the pre-implementation agreement (PIA) between the government and Brakel for executing the hydropower project was rejected by the court.
The government signed the agreement with Brakel April 9.
Reliance has moved the high court three times since the allotment of the project in 2006. Its two earlier petitions against the government were dismissed by the court.